Moments
by LuckOfLuck
Summary: Franky and Mini moments in the time during Franky's stay at Mini's. There is sort of a relationship hinted but it's a story about friendship. I've never written Franky and Mini before, so please tell me what you think! I'm rating it T solely for swearing purposes.
1. Mini's POV

**Author's Note: I own none of the characters! Also, I always sort of assumed Mini named her daughter Grace, but it's not officially canon or anything.**

And she loves Franky, but because she's Mini, she had to break Franky because that's what Mini does. She finds something she loves and she breaks it because when Mini loves something, it gets unpredictable. And Mini can't stand not being in control. So instead of loving, Mini breaks things so she can feel a little less broken.

But now her only resource is Franky. Franky is all she has left. She can't face Alo. Every time she tries, she just feels the vomit in the back of her throat and knows that if she stays and tries to explain, there will be a mess, so she leaves and doesn't say anything. Not even goodbye. The only reason she told Liv was to save the baby's life, and even that just sort of slipped out. If she'd given it a moment's thought, she could've made up another excuse. And Gracey, well, Gracey is dead. So she sticks with Franky, who in turn sticks with her in her room, making sure she gets fluids and arrives at her appointments and doesn't get sick on the floor.

Franky is her best friend, even if just a year before, Mini had looked at Franky as if she was a circus sideshow. But even then, Franky fascinated her beyond belief. Terrified her, sure, but definitely fascinated. Mini knew her world would come crashing down the moment Franky had come crashing in on that scooter, and there was nothing she could do about it. So Mini wanted to know more about this he-she, straight-gay, and what made him/her tick. When Mini met Franky, Mini started to feel again. She let herself feel hurt, happiness, want, desperation. She had been not feeling for so long she'd forgotten what feeling felt like. It was like breathing after a lifetime of holding her breath.

Later, she found out that Franky was indeed a female and for the first time in a long time, Mini felt a little scared. Intimidated. Franky was new, exciting, fresh, crisp, something Roundview hadn't had before. There had been a hundred Minis, but Franky was one of a kind. And Mini was jealous. So Mini wanted to feel in control again, and she did the only thing she could think of: befriend the friendless and once Franky was at a high, shove her down, down, down. Mini was good at that. She'd had it done to her too many times not to be. Granted, it was mostly by her father, save for the odd time with Nick or this thing, whatever it is, with Alo. Still, it hurt.

But then she was stupid and got pregnant and Franky was _there_. She knew what Mini liked and what she hated and which tea made her feel better and how to make Mini laugh. And then Franky's daily visits became sleepovers. And then the sleepovers turned into one continuous stay at Mini's. The first time Franky stayed over, Mini had fallen asleep and the roads were slick with ice and Franky didn't want to drive home, let alone walk, so she crawled into the cocoon of Mini's bed and cuddled close to the warm body.

The next morning, Mini woke up wrapped in someone's arms and her first thought was Alo, but then she saw the nail polish, and realized it was Franky, because Franky was the only one she knew who wore that sort of nail polish, the dark blues and dark greens and dark grays. So Mini, instead of freaking out, snuggled deeper into Franky's arms, content. Her baby bump had grown a considerable amount since she'd been found in that bathroom, and instead of going back to sleep, she lay dazedly awake, slipping her hand over her belly, making her fingers walk over the incline.

And then, something happened, some sensation inside her exploded and she wanted to laugh and cry and scream and cheer all at once. What happened was something small but forceful had jammed against her stomach.

"What the fuck?" Mini yelped before she could stop herself. "_Fucking hell_." She added more softly, rubbing her baby bump. And then she sucked in a breath, realizing what she had just felt.

"Hm? What? What's going on?" Franky sat up groggily, and realized her arms were around Mini. "Shit- I- sorry- shit."

Mini's eyes sparkled with tears as she took Franky's hand and pressed it against her belly.

"Kicked," she whispered. "Baby _kicked_." And as if right on cue, a tiny foot came crashing.

"Oh, Mini!" Franky withdrew her hand and threw her arms around Mini's shoulders. And when Franky finally pulled away, the brunette was on the verge of happy tears, a smile lighting her face like a hundred fairy lights.

That was when Mini first realized she loved Franky. Franky, who she'd known for less than two years but she trusted more and was more help than either the father of her baby or Liv, who'd been friends with her since they were six. That was when she realized Franky was her best friend.

And then Franky planted a big, innocent, sloppy kiss on Mini's cheek. Well, she _aimed_ for Mini's cheek, but the Scottish beauty turned her head and it ended up going right on the lips. Mini sucked in a breath and Franky sucked in a breath and they froze, staring at each other, faces centimeters apart.

After a moment, Franky spoke up. "I didn't mean-shit. Fuck. Sorry. Shit. I mean- fuck- I mean-"

"Chill out, Franks," Mini ruffled Franky's hair. "Wouldn't be the first time you surprised me." A beat passed before the two girls dissolved into a fit laughter, even though nothing was really very funny.

Franky had been out getting milk and bread and a refill of Mini's prenatal vitamins. When she arrived back at Mini's, she called a greeting but received no reply. She called again. Still nothing. Franky, now quite worried, rushed up the stairs and into Mini's room, where she found Mini, in all her six-months-pregnant glory, crying. Mini-fucking-McGuinness, crying with her knees pulled up as close to her chest as they'd go, huddled in the corner of her bed in the corner of the room.

"Oh, god, Mins," Franky crawled over the bed and pulled Mini into her lap, quite a feat, considering she was more than half a foot shorter than the blonde, not to mention that the other girl was quite pregnant. "Oh, Mini, what happened?"

Mini just buried her face in Franky's shoulder, crying. "Not ready," she mumbled. "I'm not ready for this."

"I know." Franky pressed her lips into the top of Mini's head. "I know, but I'm right here, all right? I'm not leaving. I'm going to help you. It's us forever, right?" Franky gently rocked Mini back forth slightly, the only positive thing she remembered her mother doing for her.

Mini nodded and allowed herself to be pulled into Franky's lap a little more and held like a small child might be. She continued to cry. It was silent crying, shaking shoulders. And it broke Franky's heart.

Tentatively, Franky took Mini's face in her hands, just to wipe away the mess of tears with a tissue. But Mini surged forward and pressed her lips against Franky's, who stiffened but then relaxed after a moment, letting what was, be. The kiss didn't last longer than a second.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what was happening," Mini said, beginning to cry again. "I just needed someone and you were there and-"

"Hush, it's okay," Franky pulled Mini close again, allowing the girl to cry herself to sleep before Franky tucked her in with a kiss on the forehead. Franky smirked at the irony of everything, she never having had a mother, yet doing a mother's job and putting a mother-to-be to bed.

There were a lot of days like that, where Mini couldn't do anything but cry. There were good days, too. And Franky was there through everything. She didn't leave, not even when Mini's mother, Shelley, came home and tried to convince her to give the baby up. Eventually, Shelley relented and allowed Mini to keep the baby, but they were never on perfect terms again. Mini made Shelley edgy and Shelley made Mini edgy and the entire mother-daughter relationship was rocky, civil at best.

Then the baby was born, a perfect little girl named Grace Francesca, after Mini's two best friends who got her through more than she could ask. The baby was brought home but Shelley was still odd around Mini, so Mini moved in with Alo full time for a bit, and was happy.

But Alo became careless and started staying out with Rich more often and Mini broke things off and moved into Franky's apartment because Franky is constant. Franky is stable. And sure, Alo still creeps into her mind, and sure, once he matured in a few weeks or months or even years, she might see him again as more than friends, but she was content staying with her best friend, even when once in a blue moon the lines blurred and an accidentally on purpose kissed was passed in one of the now rare drunken stupors. Mini and Franky never became anything more than best friends, and both were happy.

Sometimes, Mini felt something stirring deep in her belly and the words, "_I love you_" threatened to tumble out of her mouth. Sometimes, Mini could swear Franky experienced the exact same thing, the way she'd draw a breath and bite her lip and close her eyes for a moment. But then baby Grace would start to cry or the timer on dinner would go off and the moment would be broken. But Franky and Mini's friendship never broke, no matter how cracked they were individually. Their love is purely platonic, nothing more than friendship, but it's friendship so strong that nothing, nothing in the world could break it.


	2. Franky's POV

When Franky first met Mini, that first day of college, the first thing she felt when she looked at Mini was dizzy. Because Mini was so _big_, she was so _much_, and Franky felt very small and very much like nothing at all. And so Franky took to watching Mini whenever she was in her presence, hoping to learn to be big and fill a room. And in this process, Franky fell a little bit in love with Mini. Not romantically in love, but platonically. She was enamored by Mini McGuinness and everything the girl did. And Franky was terrified.

But because Franky was Franky, she let herself be pulled into Mini's tide yet refused to let people in. Even she herself hadn't known at the time if she was confident or not. But then Franky grew into herself. And one day, during one totally normal day in college, she saw a very, very rare sight: Mini, sitting alone, looking first uncomfortable, and then quite ill. Franky saw her bolt out of the common room and into the restroom and Franky heard the horrible splattering of vomit into porcelain.

Of course, Franky had had her suspicions. She'd been people watching far too long to ignore the way Alo stared at Mini and the Mini avoided his gaze. The way she looked at him in the rare instances he wasn't looking at her and the way he attempted to grab her wrist whenever she walked by. And so when she saw Mini McGuinness in all her glory kneeling pathetically on a bathroom floor, delicately getting sick into the loo, Franky knew.

And in the moment in the hallway when Franky's hand was pressed up against Mini's stomach, a flock of pigeons erupted in her own. They quickly dissipated, however, when she saw the pleading look in Mini's eyes as she turned and walked away.

Franky, too perceptive for her own good, knew then, too, that that was the start of a brilliant friendship. Sure, they were friends, but now, they were about to embark on a journey to test just how strong they were.

At first, Mini pushed Franky away, insisting that she leave her alone. But after a week of Franky dropping by before school with that funny little grin and something delicious her dads had baked, Mini gave in. Started inviting Franky over after school and Franky was so happy, so, so happy, because she felt them growing closer. She had memories, real memories now, not drugged up party memories, of happiness and friendship and laughter. Of love, pure love, because even though the baby could be a liability, Franky's heart swelled whenever she saw Mini's hand lazily caress the baby bump, love written all over her freckled little face.

Franky has one memory in particular that makes her grin. It was one of the early days when Franky lived at Mini's, when Mini still had terrible morning sickness. All day sickness, really. But nevertheless, Mini had woken up and promptly thrown up into her lap. Franky had sent Mini off to bathe, because honestly, she smelled rank, while she figured out how to clean the vomit off of the duvet.

After about an hour, she had found stain remover and bleach and was figuring out what to do next when she heard a string of swear words coming from Mini's room. Franky bolted up the stairs and into the bedroom, to find Mini sitting naked on the floor in nothing but her underwear, which even though it was maternity underwear, it really wasn't covering much.

"Stupid- fucking- shirt- won't- go- over- my- fucking-ow, mother fucker, _shit!_-head!" Mini fumed, each arm inside a leg of her trousers. "Fucking-fuckballs! Where's the fucking head hole?!"

"Mini…Mins…_Mini_!" Franky said, trying to stop herself from laughing. "Trousers, those are trousers. Here." She tossed the reddening Mini a t-shirt and dissolved into laughter.

"Oh, shut up," Mini tried to conceal her smile. A few minutes later, the pair was seated on the bed.

"Tummy's all good?" Franky had positioned herself so she was leaning against the wall, seated behind Mini, who was leaning into her. Franky nuzzled her face into the soft spot between Mini's shoulder and neck, something that Mini had come to find a comfort. Franky had also wrapped her arms around Mini's waist, holding her close, another thing Mini had come to like.

Mini nodded. "Tummy's all good."

"Good." A beat passed before Franky grinned. "Mini, darling, I do believe you called yourself a shit head," Franky began to laugh again.

"Franks," Mini warned. Franky had given her the most innocent face she could muster, but Mini still pinned Franky down and tickled her mercilessly anyway.

That had been a good day, a relatively easy day, until Mini had begun to get sick again. But it was one of the last sick days, too, so that was a blessing for Franky and Mini both. The smell of stomach acid was becoming too familiar to the both of them.

Mini often fell asleep long before Franky, so Franky had the opportunity to watch Mini sleep, a rare and beautiful thing. Awake, Mini was wild or stony faced, one of two extremes, but asleep, she was angelic, peaceful. Beautiful. Franky would stay awake for hours, playing with Mini's locks, which Franky was admittedly a little jealous of, and thinking. Just thinking. Thinking about how much she hated Matty and how, even though this baby could ruin everything, she was quite glad for it because she'd never been happier than when she was with Mini, just the two of them, just them, and Mini needed her and trusted her and made her feel _wanted_ and Franky knew that if there was no baby, this would never happen.

And she also thought about how selfish a thought that was. But, she reasoned, Mini wanted her there. So it was okay.

Sometimes, on Mini's bad days, the ones where she'd cry and not stop and Franky would hold her and shush her and rock her, she'd catch little snippets of Mini's fragmented thoughts. Her favorites were the "I love you, Franks"', partially because they made her feel all good and gooey and fuzzy, even though she knew Mini didn't mean it like that, and partially because Mini sounded so vulnerable and pure and young, and Franky was pretty sure Mini didn't even know she was saying it.

One of her clearest memories was Mini's first bad day, the one where they accidentally kissed, not because it was romantic, but because it was so full of raw energy and love and desperation. It was a display of friendship, even Franky's perceptiveness could see this. It was the way to say thank you, thank you, thank you, you're my best friend. And Franky felt the same way towards Mini, so she let herself kiss back. Then Mini got embarrassed and started to cry and that was when Franky had started the neck-nuzzling, waist-holding, rocking thing.

Her second most clear memory is Mother's Day, because she woke up and something was off, but she couldn't place it. She didn't know what it was until she overheard Mini talking to her mother on the phone and she said, "Happy Mother's Day, mum." Franky had gone all quiet, something not unnoticed by Mini as the petite girl moved about the kitchen, making tea and toast in utter silence, when usually she'd be chattering away or dancing and singing and making an utter scene.

"Franks, Franky badass," Mini said hesitantly. "Franks, what's up? You all right?"

And Franky turned around, breathing escalating and tears pooling in her deep brown eyes and she dropped the mug she was holding and her hands covered her face and she just started to cry.

"Hey," Mini pushed back from the table and got up as fast as she could. "Hey. You're all right, come on, you're all right."

Mini led Franky up the stairs and sat her down on the bed. Mini sat down next to her and after a moment, put an arm around Franky like she had done for her so many times before.

"I'm sorry," Franky whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Mini pulled her close, like Franky had become accustomed to doing to Mini, and with great effort, Mini pulled Franky somewhat into her lap. "You're okay, I'm here, you're okay."

And Mini held Franky and smoothed her hair and a little while later, after Franky had calmed down a bit, she spoke.

"Sorry," her voice was a bit hoarse. "I don't know what came over me. Sorry."

"Hell, Franks, I owe you, you've only taken care of me every day," Mini punched Franky lightly on the shoulder, making Franky crack a smile.

"You're going to be a great mum, you know." Franky offered Mini the crack of a smile. Mini accepted and returned it tenfold.

"Thanks, Franky badass."

Another memory is the day that Mini came to move into Franky's apartment. Franky had been in a pancake mood, so she opened the door holding a bowl of batter, covered in flour. Mini hugged Franky so fiercely that she almost dropped the bowl.

"Mini! What're you doing here? Where's Alo?" Franky craned her neck to see if Alo was in the hallway behind Mini.

"He's being a tit. I needed a break. I sort of need to…move in? I'm sorry it's such short notice-" Mini said apologetically, adjusting baby Grace on her hip. She was a whole three months now. It was hard to believe.

"Are you kidding?" Franky grinned, stepping aside so Mini could come in. "It'll be just like old times! This'll be great!"

And Mini set Grace on the floor and after a beat had passed, the two girls hugged each other, squealing like preteens at a concert. That night they had pancakes and orange juice and painted Franky's spare room and set up a cot and Mini and Franky fell asleep in the same bed, laughing, just as they had done just a few months before.

"You know, Franks," Mini mumbled, slipping into sleep, "I'm glad you sorted your shit out. Now we're together again."

"Yeah," Franky smiled groggily. "Yeah, me too."


	3. Franky and Mini

And two years to the day later, Franky skidded into the kitchen on sock feet, clad, per usual, in boxers and a wife beater which served as pajamas, where Mini was sat with two-year-old Grace, trying to get the nap-deprived toddler to eat.

"Mini, Mini, Mini!" Franky slid on her sock-covered feet on the wood floor, her hands catching the edge of the table to steady herself. "Earth to Mini fucking McGuinness!"

Baby Grace who wasn't really a baby anymore clapped her hands and giggled. "Fucking!"

"Oh, Gracie," Mini pinched the bridge of her nose and set down the spoonful of applesauce the little girl was maybe (probably not, but don't tell Mini that) about to eat. She frowned at Franky. "Look what you've done! And I've still got to get her to nap and I have to finish online coursework and wash all her dirty clo-"

"Mini, I'm pregnant," Franky interrupted, grinning from ear to ear. "Me! Pregnant!" Franky twirled on the spot, eyes sparkling.

"Franks," Mini said tentatively, trying to hide the smile opening on her face. "Really? You're really-?"

Franky bit her lip, still smiling, and nodded.

Mini reached up and yanked her down to her own height into a tight headlock-esque hug, arms around Franky's neck.

For the past year, Franky had been seeing a boy and they were due to be married in two months and four days, Mini as the maid of honor, naturally. Even Liv was coming, and they never saw her out anywhere anymore. Nick and Alo and Rich and Alex were all invited and coming as well.

Alo and Rich were currently starting a small recording studio for small scale and bands and singers, and to everyone's surprise, it was doing fairly well. Alo and Mini never formally got back together, but for everyone's sake, it went without being said that they were dating. Mini still lived with Franky, she couldn't imagine ever leaving the cozy confines of Franky's apartment, but she sometimes went out with Alo if she could get Franky to babysit Grace. Other times, Alo came over, but more often than not, if Alo came over, then so did Rich, and everyone else got the memo one way or another and wound up in the apartment.

Nick was always horrible at science and math, which people always found funny because he was a nurse, pushed into a profession his father found "acceptable".

"I'm a male nurse!" Nick would say. "I'm a fucking male nurse! I'm never getting any ever again!"

Grace was still Grace, and at the very least once a month, the gang would convene at her grave and recount stories and keep her updated. It was something Rich started and then Franky and Mini found out, and once they found out, it might as well have been screamed to the world.

Liv was still intent on getting drunk off her ass and wasn't the greatest at holding down a job or a boyfriend, but that girl knew how to throw a kickass party. And not to mention get all eyes staring at her, something Mini missed being able to do, but then again, having all those suitors is sort of how she got pregnant with baby Grace in the first place. At this point, no one really tried to talk Liv out of her habits. She never listened to anyone, so everyone just accepted the fact that she couldn't accept heavy things and dealt with issues by getting drunk and dancing around like an idiot. Not that they _really_ minded that part; it was still fun, no matter how old they got!

Alex was courting every living male he could find, as well as checking up on Liv to make sure she wasn't passed out _all_ the time or dead in the street or something. He worked in an old folks home, showing them how to live again and entertaining them with magic tricks, which he said was cool because they never remembered any of them so he could do the same trick every day for a month and nobody would catch on. Of course, he switched it up anyway.

Matty had run off again, as Matty does. He'd attempted to stay and it just didn't work out. Mini liked to say he had a nomadic soul. Franky liked to say, "Forget soul, he has no dick."

One year, though, on Grace's birthday, they found Matty nursing a bottle of vodka and sitting against her headstone, dirty and disheveled. Nick took him home but in the morning, he was gone again.

Franky's wedding was beautiful, her in a gorgeous, unconventional yellow to orange to red dress and her husband in a tux. Her baby bump was still practically invisible at that stage, but in the coming months, she swelled like a balloon.

She loved her husband, she really did, but she couldn't give up Mini, so what they decided to do was buy a larger flat and get it sectioned off so Alo, baby Grace, and Mini's bedrooms and bathroom and own private living room was sectioned off on one side and Franky and company had one on the other side. In the middle, a den and kitchen and dining room were positioned.

And then Mini and Alo got married and it was the most beautiful thing Franky had ever seen. Mini was gorgeous, all in white, and Alo was as dapper as ever, adding in a trademark knit vest beneath his tux. Baby Grace was flower girl, because even at two, that's a job easy enough to do. Franky cried when her two friends exchanged vows and kissed. She danced like mad at the reception. She blushed at the old college pictures during the montage. She laughed at the videos of Mini and Liv and Grace and herself from their teenage years before the car crash. And at the end of the night, when she hugged Mini tighter than she'd ever hugged her before (which was saying something), there was a feeling that _right now is so right that we are so inconceivable, impossible, invincible, infinite, imponderable, incalculable, incomprehensible, and so very, very perfect that the world could end right now and we wouldn't care._

Just before Franky had her baby, and after Mini became pregnant a second time, they moved again; this time into the flat next door. Franky could never really shake Mini, but she liked it that way. Mini was constant. Mini was stable. Mini was Mini. Mini was. She just was.

After Mini learned the news about Franky's pregnancy, she knew her world was about to change. She knew everything was going to change, because babies change things, she knew firsthand. After you have a baby, things don't go back to normal. A baby is like a little piece of your heart that was too pure to fit in a grown body anymore so it became a fresh start, a baby, and you love that baby more than anything and he or she becomes your first priority. She knew that her friendship with Franky was going to change. For the better or for worse, she couldn't say. It would just change there was nothing she could do but ride the wave and just be.

And change, things did. In busy lives filled with schedules and work and children and husbands, it's hard to find time to connect with childhood friends. Still, Franky and Mini make it work. They grab a coffee a few times a week or meet for lunch or a play date for the kids. They go out when the husbands can be roped into babysitting. Mini and Franky are together forever. Mini and Franky are inseparable by sea and earth and sky. Mini and Franky are together. Mini and Franky are forever. Mini and Franky are inseparable. Mini and Franky are. They just are.


End file.
